Art: L'Affaire Picasso

Pablo Picasso's joining of the
French Communist Party and the attack on his paintings at the Paris
Autumn Salon (TIME, Oct. 16) were discussed last week in a Paris
cable from TIME'S Correspondent Sherry Mangan. Excerpt:

Until the occupation, Picasso's politics, though pretty vague, were
rather revolutionary than Stalinist. Obviously his formal party entry
was long planned and delayed till the eve of the opening of the Salon
d'Automne in order to make the maximum éclat.

You must realize the tremendous pull of the Communist Party here, which
combines the enormous prestige of Red Army victories with a safe,
nonrevolutionary, liberal social...